West Hempstead's Gloria Guerrier wins 400-meter hurdles in Nassau Class A championships

For Gloria Guerrier, it’s the rhythm that sometimes gets her. Hurdling, while a popular event, can be a delicate one. One misstep can throw everything out of whack and make a fluid race one moment into a bit of a slog the rest.

Guerrier, a West Hempstead senior, wasn’t thrilled with her hurdle rhythm Wednesday, but it didn’t hurt her much. The Yale-commit said she fell out of it towards the end of her 400-meter hurdles triumph at the Nassau Class A track and field championships at Carle Place High School, but it was still good enough to win in 1 minute, 1.65 seconds. She also won the 400 in 55.90 seconds.   

“I think I held a good rhythm throughout the first 200 meters, but I think what I need to work on for my next race is to try and keep that rhythm past the 250 mark and really stay focused on the last 100 stretch to bring it home,” said of her hurdles win. 

Guerrier said a change in rhythm happens quickly – maybe it’s an extra step between hurdles or a bit of outside distraction – but when it happens, it’s hard to correct.

“I heard the [announcers] saying “Gloria Guerrier pulling away’ and that got me off rhythm. I don’t know why,” Guerrier said with a laugh. 

Guerrier continued: “It happens too fast. You can’t really think that much during the hurdles. You only have four or five seconds between each hurdle. If you overthink it for one second, your steps could be off for the rest of the race.”

Guerrier said she believes her focus will be much improved with the increased competition she’ll find at the Nassau State Qualifier, scheduled for Thursday and Friday at North Shore High School in Glen Head.

North Shore won both the boys and girls Class A team championships, with the boys scoring 101 points and the girls scoring 102. On the girls side, North Shore’s Sophia DeMillio cleared nine feet to win the pole vault. On the boys side, North Shore got a win from Caden Paradis in the pole vault (10-0).

Elsewhere, West Hempstead’s Jurrel Hall won all three jumping events. The senior jumped 20-11 ½ in the long jump, 45- 5 ½ in the triple jump, and cleared six feet in the high jump. Hall now has six jumping county championships this school year. He swept the jumps at the Nassau Class C indoor championships in February.

 Hall said he sprained his left knee playing pick-up basketball last week, so he was unsure if he’d be able to repeat the feet.

“I wasn’t expecting to win all three," Hall said, "but obviously that was the goal."